They’re only a millimeter long — about the size of a grain of sand — but are “voracious” eaters of mosquito larvae, said entomologist Jenni DeSio at the Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory here, as she showed the tiny one-eyed copepods scurrying under a microscope.

For the second year in a row, the state is putting them to use as a natural way to control mosquitoes, which are more plentiful this year because of the warmer spring.

Mosquitoes are mostly annoying. But their itchy bites can infect people and horses with the deadly West Nile virus. Horses also can contract Eastern equine encephalitis through a mosquito bite. Already this year, a 3-year-old horse had to be euthanized in Westampton on May 27 because of EEE.

Bob Kent, an entomologist and administrator of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Mosquito Control, said that where copepods were released last year, there has been less need to spray pesticides.

This summer, the state plans to release about 100,000 copepods in aqueous sprays at sites where county mosquito control officers think they will be beneficial once they take up residence, such as in cemeteries, where plant pots serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes, as well as wetlands, roadside ditches, and near schools where pesticides are prohibited.

“They’re native to New Jersey,” DeSio said, so introducing the copepods will not negatively affect the environment.

Nick Wilson, a lab service worker at Alampi, tends to the copepods in tanks partially filled with water and wheat grain. The grain feeds single-celled organisms called paramecia, on which the copepods feed. When he notices a healthy population of them in a tank, Wilson counts them and puts them in another tank, where he prepares them to be shipped out for use by county mosquito control officers.

Out in the field, they will dine on mosquito larvae, which are about two to three times bigger. They don’t have to eat a whole larva — just enough to cause its death, Wilson explained.

Kent said the copepod program costs only $35,000.

“It’s a drop in the bucket,” he said, for the benefit it achieves in helping to control mosquitoes without using pesticides.

New Jersey is only the second state in the country to use copepods. Louisiana uses the crustaceans but only in one parish, Kent said. They are used extensively in Asia as a cheaper, more environmentally safe way to control mosquitoes, which are rampant because people typically keep water in jugs.

The state also stocks waterways with several small fish that enjoy mosquito larvae.

“The use of these biological control agents is but one small part of our statewide, integrated approach to mosquito control,” Kent said. “The state’s assistance to county mosquito control programs helps reduce their dependence on insecticides. The partnership between state agencies and county government is paramount to successfully dealing with mosquito infestations.”

Homeowners who need assistance with a mosquito issue should contact the Burlington County Department of Health at mosquito@co.burlington.nj.us or call 609-265-5064 and ask for mosquito control.

Burlington County offers an informational site on the West Nile virus at http://www.co.burlington.nj.us/Pages/ViewDepartment.aspx?did=86.

Peg Quann: 609-871-8057;

email: pquann@phillyBurbs.com;

Twitter: @pequann

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